BELGIAN cyclist Remco Evenepoel is determined to secure a third consecutive men’s time trial title as the Road World Championships commence in Kigali this Sunday.
The 25-year-old champion from the previous two editions in Scotland and Zurich aims to match Australian Michael Rogers’ achievement of three time trial wins from 2003 to 2005.
Evenepoel seeks to move closer to the record four titles held by Swiss legend Fabio Cancellara and German great Tony Martin.
“That’s a nice challenge. I want to add my name to that list and go even further,“ Evenepoel told reporters during the pre-race press conference.
The young Belgian expressed his desire to achieve a historic result at the first-ever cycling world championships held on African soil.
“It would be great to achieve a historic result here – that would be special,“ he added.
Evenepoel completed his first training session on the course Friday and described it as very fast with high-altitude conditions that increase cycling speeds.
“The air is thinner, so the speed is higher,“ he noted about the Kigali course.
He highlighted the advantage of maintaining position without extreme climbs, stating there are no 10% gradients to disrupt rhythm.
The course features a cobbled climb to the finish line that presents a challenging but manageable final test.
“It’s tough at the end, although it’s not the most difficult climb. It’s steep at the beginning, but then it levels off a bit,“ Evenepoel explained.
The Belgian faces competition from reigning road race world champion Tadej Pogacar, who aims for a rare time trial-road race double.
Evenepoel remains focused on his own performance regardless of which version of Pogacar appears on race day.
“This course won’t lie. The strongest wins here. And it doesn’t matter which Pogacar I face, I’ll always have to show the best version of myself,“ he stated.
The Belgian prepared in Spain but revealed limited time trial bike training due to safety concerns with traffic.
“I’m not the rider who does a lot of training on the time trial bike. That’s a bit too dangerous with traffic,“ he explained.
Evenepoel expressed confidence in his preparation, citing a long training camp and five months of competitive racing.
“I’ve had a decent preparation, a long month of training camp, and I now also have five months of competition under my belt,“ he concluded. – Reuters